Susan Gibbons has been reappointed as university librarian and deputy provost through June 30, 2021, President Peter Salovey and Provost Ben Polak have announced.
In her second term, Gibbons will also take on new leadership responsibilities as deputy provost for collections and scholarly communication. Her portfolio as deputy provost will now include support of all of the university’s galleries, museums, and other collections, “giving unified attention and new opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration to this vital subset of the university’s academic resources,” Salovey and Polak wrote in their announcement of the reappointment. Gibbons will also be responsible for convening and fostering collaboration among these and other scholarly resources, including the Yale University Art Gallery, the Yale Center for British Art, the Peabody Museum of Natural History, the university-wide library system, and Yale University Press.
They added that “one recurring theme among the comments they received during the reappointment review process was that “Susan’s leadership has transcended Yale’s library, and, indeed, has transcended Yale.
“She is the consummate university citizen, equally adept when representing the broader goals of the institution as when illuminating the finer details of our digital and material holdings,” wrote Salovey and Polak. “A respected voice within the wider academic community, she has elevated Yale’s presence on the national and international stage, notably in the areas of data management and access, and in developing new institutional partnerships.”
The two noted that the first five years of Gibbons’ time at Yale “have been a period of transformation and growth for the university library, linking this vital scholarly resource even more closely to our academic mission. We look forward to her further contributions in the years to come.”
Gibbons began as university librarian on July 1, 2011 and was named a deputy provost on Jan. 1, 2015. She holds M.L.S. and M.A. degrees in history from Indiana University, a professional M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, and a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Rochester. Prior to coming to Yale, she held library positions at Indiana University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and the University of Rochester, where she directed digital library initiatives before being appointed in 2008 as vice provost and the Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of River Campus Libraries.
More information about her new role can be found on the Office of the Provost’s website.